[Intro] [sparse funeral piano] [distant cathedral bell] [low cello drone] [quiet choir breathing] [wind through an empty stone hall] [Whispered choir] He was a man once... [Low male voice] They remember the monster. They forgot the man. [Verse 1] I was born where the desert Keeps its dead beneath the sand Where the wind erases footsteps And the gods don't understand I watched the golden kingdom Shining somewhere past the dunes I watched them pray beneath the Triforce While my people starved beneath the moon They called me thief They called me beast They called me what I came to be But every name they gave me Took another piece of me [Pre-Chorus] So I reached beyond the desert For a power I could claim And when the golden light surrounded me I heard them speak my name Not as a man... But as a king. [Chorus] I became the man Beneath the beast The thing they feared The thing I couldn't leave I took the kingdom I took the throne I took the world Because I couldn't stand alone I reached for the Triforce I reached for the light And everything I touched Turned darker in the night I became the man Beneath the beast... And somewhere underneath him I was still alive. [Verse 2] I remember Princess Zelda Standing silent in the hall She looked into my eyes Like she could see behind it all And there was a boy in green With a sword inside his hand Every time I saw those eyes I knew how this would end Again the blade Again the light Again the hero Again the fight Again my body Again the fall Again the darkness Calling through it all [Pre-Chorus] They tell the story differently They always leave me out They say the hero saved the world They never ask about The man who stood before him... Before the hatred took his name. [Whispered choir] Get up... Get up... Get up... [Chorus] I became the man Beneath the beast The thing they feared The thing I couldn't leave I took the kingdom I took the throne I took the world Because I couldn't stand alone I reached for the Triforce I reached for the light And everything I touched Turned darker in the night I became the man Beneath the beast... And somewhere underneath him I was still alive. [Verse 3] [piano becomes colder] [distant organ enters] I have died beneath the desert I have drowned beneath the waves I have burned beneath the castle I have crawled out of my grave They call it reincarnation They call it destiny But every time I open my eyes Something else is waiting there for me I don't fear the Master Sword I don't fear the sacred light I don't fear the Hero waiting At the end of every fight What frightens me... Is the silence. When the battle finally ends. When there is no kingdom left. When there is no enemy. When there is only me. [Breakdown] [music almost completely stops] [single piano note] [deep heartbeat-like bass] Maybe I was never chosen. Maybe I was only hungry. Maybe the gods didn't curse me. Maybe I built the curse myself. [Long silence] I killed the man I was... Long before I became the beast. [Whispered choir] The man is still there... The man is still there... [Final Verse] [deep organ slowly rising] Now the castle stands empty The throne is cold and black The gold has turned to ashes And there is no going back I hear the Hero somewhere Walking through the halls And I know he'll come for me Because he always does But tonight I hear something That I never heard before Not Zelda... Not the Hero... Not the gods... My own voice behind the door. [Ganondorf, whispering] “Do you remember who I was?” [Silence] [Final Chorus] [full haunting choir] [slow funeral drums] [distorted organ] [deep bass crescendo] I became the man Beneath the beast I gave my soul To something I believed I conquered kingdoms I buried the light I became the nightmare That haunted me at night And when the Hero comes And raises up his blade I won't ask for mercy. I won't ask to be saved. Because the worst thing About becoming a monster... Is knowing... You were there... When you made him. [Final Choir] He was a man once... He was a man once... [Low male voice] And somewhere beneath the monster... I can still remember his name. [Outro] [solo funeral piano] [distant bell] [choir fading] Ganondorf... Ganondorf... [whisper] ...remember who you were. [Final piano note]
